Morphology, labeling and differentiation ability of rat BMSCs. (A) BMSCs of passage 4 showed a uniform, long spindle shape, with round or egg-shaped nuclei. The cells were arranged in whirlpool-like shapes, and some cells had double or triple nucleoli; (B) After incubation in medium with 10 μg/mL Hoechst33342 for 15 min, the MSC nuclei emitted blue fluorescent light under ultraviolet light; (C) Induced by dexamethasone for 1 week, BMSCs manifested as short-fusiform, polygon, irregular scale shaped, with large cell body, and cAKP(+) (arrows); (D) Induced by 5-aza for 1 week, some cellular bodies of BMSCs were elongated, branched, uniformly arranged, with some junctions, and cTnT(+) (arrows); (E) Induced by salvia miltiorrhiza for 1 day, some BMSCs stretched and connected with each other, shown as Nestin(+) (arrows). Bar: 100 μm.